France is none too pleased with Germany’s unilateral action yesterday to ban bearish bets on certain financial companies and European government’s bonds. Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister blasted the Germans for stepping out of school yesterday, a move she thinks could dampen liquidity on the European bond market.

Lagarde has ruled out imposing its own ban on naked shorting, however it is still enforcing a ban on shorting certain financial stocks that was put in place in September 2008. Sweden and the Netherlands also came out against the Germans yesterday.

“I think we should really request the views of those governments affected by this measure. We did not envisage doing this. And for liquidity reasons, it is useful to continue functioning without banning short selling,” she said.

Backlash builds against German ban [FT.com]